Baker-Hughes Oilfield Operations Inc. is set to open a new manufacturing center in Oklahoma City that will create 475 jobs over the next five years.

The company, which currently employs 48 people in the city, is preparing to build two manufacturing plants at the southwest corner of the Kilpatrick Turnpike and U.S. 77, according to a jobs incentives application for $850,000 filed with the Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust.

The average salary the first year is reported at $51,660.

In addition to creating 475 jobs, the company is planning to invest between $128 million and $150 million on land, new plants, high tech robotics, machinery and inventory. The new Oklahoma City operation will be the company’s only site in the United States to incorporate high-tech robotics as part of creating motors for oil and gas companies.

A report provided by the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber estimates the manufacturing plant’s economic impact over the first four years will total $299.6 million. The $850,000 incentives, if approved by the trust and the city council, would be paid from a general obligation limited tax bond approved by voters in 2007.

MORE FROM NEWSOK

Steve Lackmeyer is a reporter and columnist who started his career at The Oklahoman in 1990. Since then, he has won numerous awards for his coverage, which included the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, the city's Metropolitan...